22 Feb 2012

By Chris Taylor at Mashable:Lost the TV remote again? Don’t worry, says Google. In the future
you’ll be able to verbally instruct your TV to turn off and on, change
channel, and even flag the next rerun of Seinfeld for you — all using your Android phone as the microphone.

That’s according to a patent the search giant filed a week before
Apple launched the iPhone 4S and Siri, the voice-based personal
assistant. (Coincidence? Yeah, we think so.) The patent, uncovered by Patently Apple,
describes a system of voice controls that connects to Google’s cloud
services — meaning if you have no data coverage or Wi-Fi where the TV
is, you’re out of luck.
The advantage of doing things that way, however, is that you can turn
the TV on wherever you are, and choose something to fit your mood. So
you could be pulling into the driveway and asking your phone to prepare a
sitcom you can wind down with when you reach the couch. (We’re not sure
exactly how much of a labor-saving advantage that confers, but if
Google also has a patent that can tell your fridge to prepare a beer for
you, we’re all for it.)